He thought of his father with warm friendliness, that temper which is consistent with clear perception of faults and foibles, which makes of them, indeed, an occasion for the added kindliness of indulgence, and which, on the other hand, leaves perfect freedom in judgment and action.

We know that it is for the most part a misfortune to be the son of a really great man, and for the reason that nature, so indifferent to the individual, makes the well-being of each generation mainly consist in early predominance over the generation which gave it birth.

Wilfrid suffered no such exceptional hardship.

At three-and-twenty he felt himself essentially his father's superior.

He would not have exposed the fact thus crudely, for he was susceptible to the comely order of things.